Homesick for Lubavitch

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Ep. 80 // "The Temptation to Spiritualize" w/ Rabbi Meni Even Israel

Nov 30, 2025

1:24:20

Rabbi Meni Even Israel was born and raised in Jerusalem and lives there to this day.In this episode, we hear what it was like to be raised by his parents, Rabbi Adin and Chaya Even Israel (Steinsaltz), and how their iconoclastic personalities fit and didn't fit into the general Chabad identity.We discuss a number of fascinating anecdotes from his father's interactions with the Rebbe, and the Rebbe's insistence that their relationship stay grounded in the world of the here and now. To find out more about the new Steinsaltz Rambam please visit:https://www.steinsaltz-center.org.Use the code ST10 at checkout for 10% off If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 79 // "Aiming for Higher" w/ Rabbi Michoel Gourarie

Nov 23, 2025

1:41:15

Rabbi Michoel Gourarie grew up in South Africa and today directs Binah, a center of adult learning and growth in Sydney, Australia.In this episode, we discuss his parents very different Chabad family histories and what led them to South Africa.We discuss how the study of Chassidus impacts an individual, the potential and the limits of engrossing the mind in the study of G-d, and the need to measure ourselves against impossible standards. This week's episode is sponsored by Jnet, a project of Merkos 302.Join over ten thousand volunteers sharing their Torah knowledge with fellow study partners around the world.Visit jnet.org for more info.Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 78 // "We Need To Ask & Question Everything" w/ Rabbi Mendel Zirkind

Nov 16, 2025

1:47:29

Rabbi Mendel Zirkind grew up in Crown Heights and was recently appointed to fill the position of his late grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner a"h, as Moro D'asra of the Chabad community in Melbourne, Australia.In this episode, we discuss the challenge of "filling the shoes" of such an enormous personality and on a more general level, finding our own place in a heritage with such a rich past and endless future.Along the way, we discuss the growing need for courage, not certainty, in a world and time that forces us to challenge all assumptions and make them our own. This week's episode is sponsored by Jnet, a project of Merkos 302.Join over ten thousand volunteers sharing their Torah knowledge with fellow study partners around the world.Visit jnet.org for more info. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations.Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 77 // "The Ability To Adapt" w/ Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie

Nov 10, 2025

1:44:54

Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie is a shliach and author in Yorba Linda, California.In this episode, we discuss his recently published book, "Undaunted: How the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn Saved Russian Jewry, Reimagined American Judaism, Ignited a Global Jewish Renaissance."We discuss his approach to learning and writing about a Rebbe's life and the lessons he learned from the Friediker Rebbe's ability to adapt to a life of many varying challenges.Book can be purchased on Amazon This week's episode is sponsored by Jnet, a project of Merkos 302.Join over ten thousand volunteers sharing their Torah knowledge with fellow study partners around the world.Visit jnet.org for more info.Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 76 // "The Mystery of Emunah" w/ Rabbi Yitzchok Kaufmann

Nov 3, 2025

1:31:49

Rabbi Yitzchok Kaufmann grew up in Minnesota and today is a teacher and lecturer at The Mayanot Institute in Jerusalem. In this episode, we discuss the elusiveness of Emunah, how what seems so obvious to one person seems impenetrable to the next, and how we all struggle to fully define it.We discuss the importance of an embodied Emunah, one that resides in the lived experience and history of the individual, and in every aspect of his life. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ This week's episode is sponsored by Jnet, a project of Merkos 302.Join over ten thousand volunteers sharing their Torah knowledge with fellow study partners around the world.Visit jnet.org for more info. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 75 // "45 Years On Shlichus" w/ Rabbi Yosef Levin

Sep 8, 2025

1:41:53

Rabbi Yosef Levin is a shliach in the Silicon Valley from before it was known as the Silicon Valley. Before that he grew up in Belfast and Sunderland and went to yeshiva in Brunoy, Kfar Chabad and Morristown. In this episode, Rabbi Levin shares his recollections of his years in Yeshiva, the hanholo in Brunoy who didn't believe there can be spoiled milk, the first hookups with the Rebbe's farbrengens, as well as his first and hardest years on shlichus in Northern California, the "valley of very dry bones." Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 74 // "Thinking The Unthinkable" w/ Prof. Eliot Wolfson

Aug 31, 2025

1:36:15

Elliot R. Wolfson is a scholar of Jewish studies, comparative mysticism, and the philosophy of religion and lives today in a suburb of S. Barbara, California. He is also the author of, "Open Secret: Postmessianic Messianism and the Mystical Revision of Menahem Mendel Schneerson."In this episode, we discuss his upbringing in Brooklyn and his first encounters with Chabad and Chassidus, his decision to leave the yeshiva for academia and his constant returning to the works of Chabad Chassidus.We discuss the limits of language, the limits of those limits, and the companionship one finds at the edge of this study. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 73 // "Today We're All The Same" w/ Rabbi Binyomin Scheiman

Aug 24, 2025

1:38:06

Rabbi Binyomin Scheiman grew up in Brighton Beach and is the shliach today in Des Plaines, Illinois.In this episode we discuss his introduction to Lubavitch as a young teenager and his very gradual immersion into this new way of life.We discuss his work today as a shliach who focuses on helping Jewish prisoners in the Illinois prison system and running camps for young Lubavitch children: the differences between these two groups and the similarities. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ This episode is sponsored by "Beyond Breadwinning," a new twelve hour course by Rabbi Dr. Dovid Brownstein that helps bochurim and young men approach shidduchim and marriage with intention.Next course is in person in Crown Heights over Labor Day Weekend. Visit https://www.beyondbreadwinning.com to reserve a place and use code "ELUL85" for a 33% discount. If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 72 // "A Tomim In Montreal" w/ Rabbi Joseph Polak

Aug 17, 2025

1:43:28

Rabbi Joseph Polak is the Av Beis Din of Boston and served for over four decades years as a university chaplain at Boston University.But before all of that he spent over a decade studying in the Lubavitch yeshiva and Beis Medrash in Montreal where he encountered famous personalities like Reb Volf Greenglass and many others.In this episode we discuss how those years in Yeshiva formed his identity as a chossid that remains with him to this very day and how Chassidus inspired his work on campus and his life in general. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ This episode is sponsored by "Beyond Breadwinning," a new twelve hour course by Rabbi Dr. Dovid Brownstein that helps bochurim and young men approach shidduchim and marriage with intention.Next course is in person in Crown Heights over Labor Day Weekend. Visit https://www.beyondbreadwinning.com to reserve a place and use code "ELUL85" for a 33% discount. If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 71 // "50 Years on Shlichus" w/ Mrs. Esther Goldstein

Aug 10, 2025

1:31:05

Mrs. Esther Goldstein was born in Williamsburg to parents who had both survived the Holocaust.Though her family were not Lubavitchers, a year after her marriage to Rabbi Aharon Goldstein she arrived to University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.But unlike her husband and the other shluchim in those days, her first day on the job was also the first time she encountered shlichus.In this episode, she shares her unique journey from the shteibel to the Chabad House and the decades since. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 70 // "Horizontal Connections" w/ Rabbi Yossi Lipsker

Aug 3, 2025

1:48:39

Rabbi Yossi Lipsker grew up on shlichus in Northeast Philadelphia and lives today on shlichus in Swampscott, a suburb of Boston.In this episode, Yossi shares his childhood memories of growing up on shlichus and coming on occasion to 770 and the distance between those two worlds.We discuss the tensions between a parent's dreams for their child and the child's own dreams, between the boundaries of the community and the identity of the individual, and how tzimtzum lo kipshuto plays a role in everything. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 69 // "Lubavitcher Chinuch" w/ Rabbi Chaim Zusia "Zeidy" Fishman

Jul 27, 2025

1:56:11

Rabbi Chaim Zusia Fishman grew up in Providence, Rhode Island and lived in Worcester, Massachusetts where he was a teacher for more than six decades.In this episode, he recalls his years as a student in school in Providence and then yeshivos in New York and ultimately his encounter with Lubavitch and the Rebbe.We discuss the examples of dedication to education he saw along his journey and the special inspiration he found in Lubavitch. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 68 // "Looking For What I'm Looking For" w/ Tzvi Kilov

Jul 20, 2025

1:54:04

Tzvi Kilov immigrated as a young boy from South Africa to Atlanta where he lives today.In this episode, we discuss his encounter with the Rebbe's sichos in the Chabad House where he lived, and how something about them set him off on a journey that took him through years of Lubavitch yeshivos and continues to this very day.We discuss the subjective nature of his journey and how this shapes his encounter with chassidus and Torah and faith itself. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations.Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 67 // "He Stood Up For Me" w/ Rabbi Aharon Cousin

Jul 13, 2025

2:19:00

Rabbi Aharon Cousin grew up in Leeds, England during World War II and eventually made his way to the yeshiva in Manchester where he encountered a group of young and lively Lubavitcher boys.Some years later he followed them to study in 770 by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, where he spent five years immersed in a world that inspired him to spend the rest of his life in education, as founding headmaster of the Lubavitch Boys School in London.In this episode, Rabbi Cousin shares his amazing journey, the power of education and building the self esteem of each and every student, and the moment the Rebbe stood up for him in yechidus. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode or advertise on the podcast please reach out to [email protected] This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 66 // "Chabad Is All Of Ours" w/ R' Joey Rosenfeld

Jul 6, 2025

1:33:53

R' Joey Rosenfeld grew up in the Five Towns and today lives in Eretz Yisroel where he works as a therapist and author of numerous essays (and posts) on Kabbalah and Chassidus.In this episode we discuss his discovery of Chassidus as an angsty teenager and the journey of learning it precipitated. We discuss what it means and if it is possible to study the chassidus of Chabad without being a Chabad chossid.Finally, we discuss some of his critiques of the way that Chassidus is studied today and how a renewed way of study can be found within the tradition itself. Support this podcast at: ⁠https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate⁠ This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi..⁠. Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | ⁠https://www.yuvlamedia.com⁠

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Ep. 65 // "I Can Tell the Rebbe Anything" w/ R' Mendel Posner

Jun 29, 2025

2:07:39

Reb Mendel Posner grew up in Nashville, Tenessee as the oldest son of the famous chossid and shliach Rabbi Zalman Posner.His coming back to Lubavitch as a young boy for schooling was rocky and Mendel quickly found himself as a boy with more questions than answers. This led to a journey of decades in and out of observance.Through it all Mendel held on to a deep connection of love with his parents - as well as his Rebbe. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 64 // "Learning To Think" w/ Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

Jun 22, 2025

1:32:48

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman lives in Sandy Springs, Georgia where he is an author and editor of chabad.orgIn this conversation, we discuss what it means to learn and process the ideas of Chassidus. Tzvi reflects on his own extensive writings in light of developments in AI, and how AI forces us to find out what human thinking - the kind machines can't do - really looks like.We discuss what it means for a chossid to think Chassidus for himself, as well as the limits of this idea, and the risks one must take to do so. Rabbi Freeman's new Tanya project can be found here: https://www.chabad.org/generic cdo/aid/6574568/jewish/The-Chabadorg-Tanya-Project.htm Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 63 // "Every Chossid is Different" w/ Rabbi Choni Friedman

May 25, 2025

2:01:37

Rabbi Choni Friedman grew up in Kansas City and lives today in Pittsburgh where he is the Rov of Bnai Emunoh Chabad, a growing shul and community in the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh.He is also the dean of a new Bais Medrash Zal, which opened this year with 30 bochurim and growingIn this episode, we discuss what it means to be a chossid today, if that meaning has changed over the years and if that meaning changes between each individual. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 62 // "Roots of Identity" w/ Rabbi Shlomo Elkan

May 18, 2025

1:42:44

Rabbi Shlomo Elkan grew up in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, in a reform and then conservative Jewish home, and is today the shliach at Oberlin College, a liberal arts school an hour outside of Cleveland.In this episode, we discuss his winding journey to becoming a Lubavitcher and then opening a Chabad House on campus with his wife who comes from a Dati Leumi family in Israel, and how he balances the multitudes of identities they collected from their upbringings as well as the the upbringings of their children. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 61 // "Finding the Treasure" w/ Rabbi Velvel Lipskier

May 11, 2025

2:18:53

Rabbi Velvel Lipskier grew up in Crown Heights and lives in North Miami Beach where he works in plumbing and construction.In this episode, we discuss how the "voice" of Chassidus can be translated in different cultures and how it can change depending on what we pay attention to.We also discuss some of Velvel's memories from the famous Tishrei of 1992. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 60 // "The Ability to Change" w/ Rabbi Chaim Shaul Bruk

May 4, 2025

2:07:57

Rabbi Chaim Shaul Bruk is the shliach in Bozeman, Montana where he and his wife Chavie are now marking 18 years.In this episode, he recalls his growing up in Crown Heights, both the wonderful childhood memories and the tense years of the early nineties.He also shares how a devastating infertility diagnosis in their first years of shlichus changed how he looked at the world, at G-d and at other chassidim he doesn't agree with. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 59 // "Talking to My Nefesh Habehamis" w/ Mayer Prager

Apr 27, 2025

1:34:33

Mayer Prager grew up in the Crown Heights of the 1960's, surrounded by the exodus of the non-Lubavitch Jewish community, the energy of the Lubavitch community that stayed, and of course, the Rebbe.In this episode, we discuss what it was like to grow up in that milieu, his special relationship with R' Yoel Kahan, and his perspective on the direction of the Lubavitch community as someone who sees things from both the inside and the outside. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 58 // "Learning in Lubavitch" w/ Mr. David Shabat

Apr 21, 2025

1:35:12

Mr. David Shabat lives today in Boynton Beach, Florida, but as a young boy from Washington, DC he was sent to study in the Lubavitch school of Bedford and Dean in Crown Heights, where he would go on to spend close to ten years in and about the Lubavitch community and the court of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.One of the listeners to the podcast is David's grandson and suggested I meet up with him.In this episode, David shares his memories for the first time from his years spent in that school, what it was like to be an American boy living in the heart the Lubavitch community, the Rebbe and chassidim that he remembers, and what has stayed with him decades later. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 57 // "Chassidim That Work" w/ Rabbi Rafi Tennenhaus

Apr 6, 2025

1:36:44

Rabbi Rafi Tennenhaus is a shliach in Hallandale Beach, Florida for more than four decades, where today he directs the activities of many Chabad Houses and an exploding local Lubavitch community.In this episode, we discuss his upbringing in Montreal and before that in a small Canadian town of Bathurst, New Brunswick, where his father, R' Dovid Tennenhaus, had moved years earlier to make a living.We hear about his father's story of individual religiosity in a far off town, his special relationship with both the Rebbe and the Friediker Rebbe, and his involvement in the beginnings of the Lubavitch community in Montreal.We also discuss Rafi's own journey as a bochur into his own and different relationship towards the Rebbe, and his reflections of how that continues to shape his approach to shlichus today. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 56 // "How Teaching Has Changed" w/ Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum

Mar 30, 2025

1:30:22

Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum is an educator at Yeshiva Schools in Pittsburgh for several decades, where he began as a teacher and now serves as Head of School. In this conversation, we discuss how his priorities as a teacher has changed over time, how both the world around the school but also the world within the school makes new demands of teachers but also offers new opportunities.We discuss how he navigates the changing relationship between the school and the parents and his advice for parents thinking about where to send their child. We also discuss his views about incorporating mental health awareness into a school, and what ends it is meant to serve.But while we discuss much about what has changed, we also discuss the basic truths about educations that are relevant as ever today. Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 55 // "A New Intellectual Stage" w/ Rabbi Dr. Eli Leib Rubin

Mar 23, 2025

2:15:06

Rabbi Dr. Eli Leib Rubin, Phd is a scholar and author who grew up in Edgeware, a suburb of London, and lives today in Pittsburgh.In this conversation, we discuss his recently published book, "Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hassidism," a magisterial effort of research and writing tracing the idea of Tzimtzum as it developed between one generation of Lubavitch to the next.We discuss the dynamism of ideas throughout the course of Lubavitch history, the optimism that comes along with this, and what this dynamism might look like today.Dr. Rubin's book can be purchased at: https://www.sup.org/books/kabbalah-and-rupture-modernity Code RUPTURE20 for 20% off This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani.Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by.Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 54 // "Where Even Is Home?" w/ Rabbi Shmully Metzger

Jan 19, 2025

1:53:07

Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate Rabbi Shmuly Metzger is a shliach in Manhattan, where he runs Chabad Sutton in the Midtown district. A couple miles away is the famous Lubavitch neighborhood of Crown Heights, where Shmuly grew up in both its mythological and concrete past. In this episode, we discuss his childhood in the presence of the Rebbe but also the tensions on the Crown Heights streets, how the street level and heavenly narratives diverged but also someone worked together. We also discuss the challenge of holding on to an ever changing past where memories are fluid, and how those memories continue to shape us even as we shape them. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 53 // "Writing the Messy Divine" w/ Poet Yehoshua November

Jan 12, 2025

1:48:03

Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate Yehoshua November is a poet who lives in Teaneck, New Jersey. His poetry grapples with ideas of Chassidus and their application in real "messy life," including some very personal reflections. Three collections of his poetry have been published, and his work has found appeal with audiences far outside of Lubavitch but also within Lubavitch itself. In this episode, we discuss the space that writing poetry fills in the life of a chossid, how even whilst surrounded by the great books there is a space within that deserves honest reflection and even sharing with others. Yehoshua also shares the narrow path the Chassidic poet must navigate and the important role having a mashpia has played in his work. Yehoshua's latest collection, "The Concealment of Endless Light," can be purchased on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/2IlJAcQ This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldi... Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 52 // "Cosmic or Homesick" w/ Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin

Dec 29, 2024

1:44:09

Support this podcast at: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin PhD lives in Teaneck where he is an author, columnist and host of the 18Forty podcast. In this episode, we discuss the condition of homesickness across different parts of the religious Jewish community in the United States, the inherent problems but also the possible blessings to be found in it. We also discuss how different one’s view of some of Lubavitch’s most interesting questions seem depending on where one looks at them from. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 51 // "The Spiritual Revival of Chabad" w/ Rabbi Elisha Pearl

Dec 22, 2024

2:05:50

Rabbi Elisha Pearl grew up in Flatbush and has spent the last few years studying in the Judean hills, which is where he wrote his groundbreaking book, "Make Peace," which explores the Rebbe's strategic vision for lasting peace in Israel. We were going to discuss the book, but ended up talking about how he found himself it writing it in the first place, how as a young Lubavitch boy his parents moved away from Crown Heights to Flatbush and enrolled him in Yeshivas Chaim Berlin, setting him on a trajectory of being a Lubavitcher individual studying outside the Lubavitch system, including Yeshiva University and various Dati Leumi yeshivos in Israel. We discussed the vantage point afforded to someone who sees things from both the inside and the outside, the challenges that come with it, and what he sees now in what he describes as the "religious revival" taking place in Chabad. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.yuvlamedia.com/thisworldisagarden Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 50 // The Blessing of Helping Others w/ Rabbi Mordechai Avtzon

Dec 8, 2024

2:21:31

Rabbi Mordechai Avtzon is my father and the first shliach in the Far East, which is where he and my mother founded Chabad of Hong Kong and China forty years ago. In this conversation, we discuss his upbringing in Detroit as a child of one of the only Lubavitch families in the city, and the different outlooks his immigrant parents had on their place in their new country. We also discuss how growing up surrounded by different kinds of religious Jews and spending several years learning in Telshe Chicago influenced his own Lubavitch identity and the way he understood the mission of his shlichus. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 49 // “Shlichus Love Story” w/ Rabbi Nissen Goldman

Dec 1, 2024

1:47:58

Fifteen year ago, Nissen Goldman was a teenage son of a rabbi in Johannesburg, South Africa finding his own way. After leaving high school, Nissen ended up spending time in Cape Town where his sister and brother in law where on shlichus and ended up in a relationship with the daughter of their shul’s president. Fast forward fifteen years, and Nissen is on his shlichus at University of Cape Town with his then girlfriend and now wife, and has come to the kinnus for the first time as a shliach, together with their eldest son. In this episode, we discuss Nissen’s improbable journey away from shlichus and back, how one can end up in the same and yet completely different place, and the value and risks of writing your own story. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 48 // "From Auschwitz to Lubavitch" w/ Rabbi Nissan Mangel

Nov 24, 2024

1:36:48

Rabbi Nissan Mangel was ten years old when he came face to face with Dr. Joseph Mengele at the gates of Auschwitz and was miraculously spared the fate of too many others. In this episode, Rabbi Mangel shares his journey from his small childhood town in Slovakia to Auschwitz and then England and Canada where he eventually met a number of fellow Lubavitch survivors of the war who invited him into Lubavitch. As he became a chossid of the Rebbe, Rabbi Mangel would go on to work for the Rebbe in a number of capacities, starting by learning chassidus with students in the famous Beis Medrash Govohah in Lakewood and going on to teach thousands of people around the world. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch began a year ago as a small passion project and has grown into an important conversation in the Lubavitch community. As we look forward to year two and iyH the years after that, I invite the listeners and viewers of this podcast to take part in ensuring this podcast is sustainable and continues to grow. To help support this project please visit: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 47 // “Chassidim Ein Mishpocho” w/ Rabbi Yaakov Winner

Nov 17, 2024

1:48:59

Rabbi Yaakov Winner grew up in Brooklyn and has been the mashpia in Yeshiva Gedolah of Melbourne, Australia for thirty five years. In this conversation we discuss the mashpiim that most impacted Rabbi Winner as he was growing up, and how the role of a mashpia has developed over the years. We also discuss how the idea of hiskashrus and Lubavitch identity has shifted over the years, the importance of definitions and speaking with intention, and most importantly the importance of listening to and learning from one another. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch began a year ago as a small passion project and has grown into an important conversation in the Lubavitch community. As we look forward to year two and iyH the years after that, I invite the listeners and viewers of this podcast to take part in ensuring this podcast is sustainable and continues to grow. To help support this project please visit: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 46 // “Taking the Rebbe At His Word” w/ Rabbi Dov Yona Korn

Oct 13, 2024

1:59:01

Rabbi Dov Yona Korn grew up in Morris Plains, NJ in a “very Reform” Jewish family and is today the shliach in NYU and several other schools in the Bowery district of NYC. In this episode, we discuss his discovering Chabad in the months after the Rebbe’s passing and the difference this timing made in his own understanding of the Rebbe and Lubavitch. We also discuss how the Rebbe’s ideas are filtered through layers of communal understanding, and how this communal understanding is sometimes in tension with the literal understanding of the individual. Homesick for Lubavitch began a year ago as a small passion project and has grown into an important conversation in the Lubavitch community. As we look forward to year two and iyH the years after that, I invite the listeners and viewers of this podcast to take part in ensuring this podcast is sustainable and continues to grow. To help support this project please visit: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 45 // "Painting The Truth I See" w/ Mendel Treitel

Oct 6, 2024

2:06:36

Mendel Treitel grew up on shlichus in Montreal and is today a modern art painter living in Sydney. In this episode, Mendel shares his journey through yeshiva and how a number of special teachers helped him reconcile his artistic disposition with the norms of the Yeshiva. We discuss the challenges in being both a chossid and an artist, the question of individuality and how the art a chossid paints today should be different and unique from the art a chossid painted generations ago. Mendel's work can be found at:https://www.mendeltreitel.com Homesick for Lubavitch began a year ago as a small passion project and has grown into an important conversation in the Lubavitch community. As we look forward to year two and iyH the years after that, I invite the listeners and viewers of this podcast to take part in ensuring this podcast is sustainable and continues to grow. To help support this project please visit: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 44 // "Rosh Hashana 5785" w/ Rabbi Yosef Katzman

Sep 29, 2024

2:45:36

Rabbi Yosef Katzman grew up and lives in Crown Heights, where for many years he hosted the "Cable to Jewish Life" television show. In this episode, Rabbi Katzman reflects on different pivot points through the years and how these relate to the community's changing attitude towards asking questions. He also reflects on Rosh Hashana "back in the day" and where this leaves us going into this new year. Homesick for Lubavitch began a year ago as a small passion project and has grown into an important conversation in the Lubavitch community. As we look forward to year two and iyH the years after that, I invite the listeners and viewers of this podcast to take part in ensuring this podcast is sustainable and continues to grow. To help support this project please visit: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 43 // "The Narrative of Chassidus" w/ Rabbi Naftali Silberberg

Sep 22, 2024

1:34:35

Rabbi Naftali Silberberg grew up on shlichus in Detroit and today lives in Crown Heights where he is the co-director of curriculum for JLI and host of the Let's Talk Tanya podcast. In this episode, we trace Naftali's years in yeshiva that took him to Oholei Torah in the late 80s and then to Kfar Chabad, where he discovers a life long love - almost despite the yeshiva - for the study of Tanya. We discuss what makes the narrative of Tanya so unusual and how a thoughtful study of the Torah Shebichsav of Chassidus makes it more, not less, relevant for our own day and age. Presented in honor of 18 Elul - the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov and the Baal HaTanya. Homesick for Lubavitch began a year ago as a small passion project and has grown into an important conversation in the Lubavitch community. As we look forward to year two and iyH the years after that, I invite the listeners and viewers of this podcast to take part in ensuring this podcast is sustainable and continues to grow. To help support this project please visit: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 42 // "The Rebbe's Doctor" w/ Rabbi Michoel Seligson

Sep 15, 2024

2:05:11

Rabbi Michoel Seligson is a teacher and author who lives in Crown Heights. He is also the son of Dr. Avrohom Abba Seligson, a"h, who was known as the Rebbe's doctor. In this episode, Rabbi Seligson shares his father's amazing story of becoming a doctor as a frum Jew in pre-war Europe, his escape to Shanghai and the role he played in saving the Jewish refugees over the course of the war, and his eventual arrival to Brooklyn where he developed a close, private and miraculous bond with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. We discuss his father's unique style of being a both a chossid and a doctor, where amongst many others things he showed a true example of what it means to be a "rofeh yedid." Homesick for Lubavitch began a year ago as a small passion project and has grown into an important conversation in the Lubavitch community. As we look forward to year two and iyH the years after that, I invite the listeners and viewers of this podcast to take part in ensuring this podcast is sustainable and continues to grow. To help support this project please visit: https://www.hflpodcast.com/donate Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 41 // "More Needs To Be Demanded" w/ Rabbi Levi Avtzon

Sep 8, 2024

2:07:30

Rabbi Levi Avtzon grew up in Crown Heights and lives today in Johannesburg, South Africa where he is a rabbi at the Linksfield Synagogue. In this episode we continue the conversation in recent episodes about the tension between the soft and demanding voices in our community. We discuss the changing narratives in the Lubavitch community and how past demand for conformity has now given way to a therapeutic mindset, and we debate whether or not this change is in fact a true change at all. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 40 // "May We See The Rebbe" w/ Mrs. Tzivia Jacobson

Sep 1, 2024

1:59:55

Mrs. Tzivia Jacobson grew up in in the 1930s in a Lubavitch family in Kutaisi, Georgia under Soviet rule. Nobody in her family had ever seen a picture of the Rebbe at that point, let alone met him, but every night her mother would put her to bed with a blessing that one day they would see the Rebbe. Her family would eventually escape the USSR and make their way to Brooklyn where Mrs. Jacobson would be one of a handful to see the beginnings of the Lubavitch story in Crown Heights and up to this very day. Along the way, Mrs. Jacobson and her husband, Mr. Gershon Jacobson a"h, would found the yiddish newspaper The Algemeiner Journal and pioneer a new way of communicating the Rebbe's ideas with the broader world. In this episode, we discuss her growing up in the Soviet Union, what changed for her family and community when they moved to the United States but also what stayed - and always stays - the same. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community.For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media.Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] with BentziWebsite | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 39 // "Working With What I Have" w/ R' Yossel Mochkin

Aug 25, 2024

1:49:40

Reb Yossel Mochkin grew up in Crown Heights in the 1960s and 1970s, living in the cloistered world of his immigrant parents and their friends but surrounded by a fast changing and exciting world around him. Never finding it easy to fit in to the milieu around him, Yossel had to ask on his own questions about the direction his life was to take. These questions were never fully resolved, but a yechidus with the Rebbe gave Yossel a blueprint his is still continuing to implement. In this conversation we discuss the never ending journey of finding one's place, the private wrestling with one's faith and the ability to grow through it all.

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Ep. 38 // “Finding the Rebbe’s Softer Voice” w/ Rabbi Berry Farkash

Aug 18, 2024

2:05:49

Rabbi Berry Farkash is a Shliach in Issaquah, Washington and director of Chabad of the Central Cascades. Several years ago, a local crisis led Berry into the world of psychotherapy where he became a certified clinical psychotherapist and practices Hypnotherapy and other Transpersonal modalities. Today all of his clients are fellow Lubavitchers, many of them shluchim. In this conversation, we discuss his own journey toward finding the Rebbe’s softer voice and the need for forgiveness and compassion. We also discuss the importance of companionship - especially highlighted by the Rebbe’s “bakosho nafshis” to find a mashpia, or in other words, to talk about real and weighty issues with someone else. This week's episode is brought to you by "This World Is A Garden," a new film and live concert production by Yuvla Media based on the Rebbe's first talk, Bosi Lgani. Combining beautiful cinematography with a live performance by a string quartet, this production is a meditation on hope and holding on to a vision even as time passes by. Now you can bring this groundbreaking experience of Bosi Lgani to your community. For more info please visit: https://www.thisworldisagarden.com Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 37 // "The Need To Move Forward" w/ Mrs. Toby Hecht

Aug 11, 2024

1:49:09

Mrs Toby Hecht is the director of Shabtai, a global Jewish leadership society at Yale University in New Haven. Toby grew up on shlichus in Seattle and was finishing up her senior year in Beth Rivka High School in Crown Heights when she and her friends were swept up in the collective grief of Gimmel Tammuz. In this conversation, Toby reflects on the feelings of that time, the emergent awareness of needing to move forward and the responsibility we have today to take decisive ownership of the future.

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Ep. 36 // "Making the Past Present" w/ Rabbi Dr. Shmary Brownstein

Jul 14, 2024

2:49:04

Rabbi Dr. Shmary Brownstein is a shliach in Davis, California where he also wrote his doctoral dissertation on the famous series of maamorim, Bosi Lgani. In this episode, we discuss Shmary's growing up in Crown Heights in the early 90s and his decision to leave for Brunoy. We discuss how the conception of past changed over those years and how some of the ideas of Bosi Lgani might inform how we ought to approach staying connected to the past without becoming lost in it.

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Ep. 35 // "Do You Notice the Narrative?" w/ Rabbi Peretz Chein (Bonus conversation w/ Chanie Chein)

Jul 7, 2024

2:33:03

Rabbi Peretz and Chanie Chein both grew up in Crown Heights and are the shluchim today at Brandeis University near Boston, Massachusetts. They have also recently founded M54, a program founded on the relational connection between learners as they embark on shared yet individual explorations, resulting in profound outcomes. In this conversation, Peretz and I discuss his growing up in Crown Heights in the late 80s and early 90s and his pivotal decision to leave Crown Heights to study in a yeshiva in Israel, only returning after the Rebbe's stroke two years later. We discuss the power narrative holds over us and the need to ground oneself in narrative, but also the need to notice the narrative and to pay attention to one's own thoughts and experiences.

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Ep. 34 // "Fantasy of Going Back" w/ Rabbi Moshe Greenwald

Jul 1, 2024

2:57:46

Rabbi Moshe Greenwald grew up on shlichus in Long Beach, CA and is on shlichus today in Downtown Los Angeles. In this episode, we discuss his childhood memories of coming to 770 for Pesach, his coming of age during the turbulence of 1992 and the questions he's had to wrestle with since. The conversations leads us to questions about the possibility of a Chossid's living with uncertainty.

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Ep. 33 // "He Believed in Me" w/ Rabbi Pinny Andrusier

Jun 23, 2024

1:14:24

Rabbi Pinny Andrusier lives in Cooper City, Florida where he is a shliach for more than thirty years. Growing up, Pinny found his place less in the structure of yeshiva and more in the adventure of shlichus, which is where he hoped to find his place after marriage. But when the time came, he struggled to find a place in shlichus and almost gave up on his dream, until a note from the Rebbe a few days before 27 Adar changed everything. In this episode, we discuss the challenge of fitting in, both back then and today, and how believing in the other is often the biggest gift we have to offer.

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Ep. 32 // "Shock of Yud Shvat" w/ Rabbi Shmuly Avtzon

Jun 16, 2024

1:53:17

Rabbi Shmuly Avtzon is a Mashpia in the Yeshiva of 770 and director of Sichos In English, an organization founded by his late father and my uncle, Rabbi Yonah Avtzon a"h. In this episode, we compare and contrast our childhood experience and recollection of 27 Adar and 3 Tammuz, him growing up in the thick of the Rebbe's neighborhood of Crown Heights and me growing up across the world on shlichus in Hong Kong. We discuss the shockwaves these events had on our childhood, and whether or not they can be traced to earlier events in Lubavitch history and specifically the history of Dor Hashvii. As a sidetone, I recently worked with Shmuly on a documentary about SIE's new release of Likkutei Sichos in English. You can see more about the project here: https://www.sie.org Homesick for Lubavitch is a project of Yuvla Media. Bentzi Avtzon is a filmmaker who specializes in telling the stories of thoughtful and heartfelt organizations. Business inquiries only: [email protected] Connect with Bentzi Website | https://www.yuvlamedia.com

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Ep. 31 // "The Image I Remember" w/ Marc Asinine

May 26, 2024

1:33:39

Marc Asnin is a documentary photographer who lives in New York City. Over the years, Marc has photographed all kinds of subjects, from the most marginizaled people on death row to his own Uncle Charlie. In 1992, Marc was commissioned by the New York Times to photograph the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Crown Heights community as part of a feature essay, The Oracle of Crown Heights. Just a few weeks before the stroke, Marc’s pictures are from the last and most iconic pictures of that year. In this podcast, we discuss Marc’s first impressions of the Rebbe and the Lubavitch milieu, his reflections on that photograph and what he thinks has made it such a lasting testimony.